Ideias pedagógicas e design de jogos na educação

Abstract

Studies on games in education have collaborated in understanding the new forms of interaction in the classroom ambience. Such forms concern not only the digital technologies but also the social relations, including games as a cultural expression that goes beyond education. This study deals with and investigates the relationship that precedes the experience of playing a game, taking as the specific object of knowledge, the relationship between game design and education. This relationship has been scarcely studied since educational research usually looks only at the experience of playing games, therefore, little is known about the development of games, the individuals involved, and how they virtually relate to education. In this regard, the overall purpose is: To investigate the relationships between pedagogical ideas and the development of games. Additional aims are: To analyze the context within which games have been devised in Brazil, to analyze the possibilities of interactions between developing games and pedagogical ideas, to analyze the possibilities that playing games in education may yield, drawing from the contribution of game designers in Brazil, and to propose contributions that envisage education and game design in an interdisciplinary fashion. The categories of pedagogical ideas, by Demerval Saviani, and of game design, especially by Jesse Schell, are the main analytical categories utilized in the study. In order to perform it, hybrid research methods have been adopted by utilizing sequential hybrid methods. Narrative review and the thematic development research have been applied for data collection and theoretical analysis; questionnaire, Likert scale, and descriptive statistics have been used for quantitative data collection and analysis; semi-structured interview, critical content analysis and content analysis have been employed for qualitative data collection and analysis. As the outcome of this study, an initial socioeconomic profile of Brazilian game designers has been established, an in-depth discussion has been presented about the context of games in education; based on the respondents´ perceptions, light has been thrown on the multiple determinations found in the field of game design; the influence of pedagogical ideas on the development of artifacts has been established, analytical categories of games in the context of education have been developed, an instrument of analysis and game development in education has been devised which may contribute, in an interdisciplinary manner, for its analysis in educational research as well as the development of artifacts for education on the part of game designers.